MANUELA is Gregory Kauffman's novel about the South American revolution and the love story between Simón Bolívar and Manuela Sáenz.. Based on a decade of research into daily life in South America in the early 19th century, it is a story of bravery, romance, patriotism, history, power, intrigue and war.

At no other time in history did the world change so much as in the years from 1815 to 1830. Europe was recovering from the Napoleonic wars while South America fought for independence from Spain.

Simón Bolívar, one of the most important statesmen and military heroes the world has ever known, emerged out of this period. Recognized in history as The Liberator, he emancipated the countries now known as Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Perú and Bolivia.

While conquering an area almost five times that of Napoleon's conquests, Manuela Sáenz was by his side, a figure whom history has nearly forgotten.

Part of Bolívar's staff, a colonel in his army at a time when women were frowned on for doing anything other than looking pretty, and facing his greatest challenges with him, she even saved his life.

Because Manuela was a soul of intense integrity, she accumulated political enemies that made sure she was written out of the annals of the countries she helped to emancipate even though she was a towering figure in South American history.

In the many accounts of Bolívar's life, Manuela Sáenz is sometimes mentioned but only in passing and then often inaccurately. In this book, the "gaps" in history are filled out and the drama that must have been lived daily by this remarkable woman is brought forth in a powerful story.

Between its covers you will learn how Manuela Sáenz saved the life of the man known as the Liberator, where Manuela grew up, what forces shaped her life and personality, how an illegitimate girl grew to be the most powerful woman in South America, and how she defied a government set on destroying the man she loved. You will learn of her most important victory: how Manuela turned the battle for the control of the most important city in South America into a victory for the revolutionary forces, and thus changed history. Most importantly, you will read a human story of a woman who learned to love, despite living in a world torn apart by war.